While grasping the power of Rules, the most crucial ability Lin Luo gained was the Sense Domain. In the world of A Certain Magical Index, because his Rule Power could be fully deployed, wherever his gaze landed became his domain. Thus, at that time, Lin Luo hadn't fully understood the utility of the Sense Domain, nor had he delved deeply into its potential.

However, during his eight months in the world of Type-Moon, the limitations on his Rule Power forced him to travel the entire world to analyze its governing rules. With deeper understanding came a more profound realization of the Sense Domain.

To explore the world and pursue truth—this was the function of the Eyes: searching, indispensable for analyzing world rules.

The slightest disturbance, nothing could escape notice—this was the function of the Ears: capturing, offering omnipotent defense and vigilance.

Perfect memory, content storage—this was the function of the Brain: once he encountered a person, the Sense Domain would completely record that person's aura. Even if he himself forgot, activating the Sense Domain was like querying a search engine; input the desired information, and the answer instantly appeared.

Of course, search engine results could be varied and sometimes misleading, but the Sense Domain was singularly focused.

Thus, following Rin's reminder and tracking with his Sense Domain, they followed the recorded aura and arrived three days later at the location where Ling Yi was "killed."

"This is the place," Lin Luo said solemnly, standing on a grassy expanse. Though they had reached their destination, Lin Luo was disappointed not to find any clues left by the Host.

"The Sense Domain can't detect anything?" Rin asked, frowning.

Lin Luo managed a wry smile. "The Sense Domain isn't omnipotent. While I can sense a faint, almost nonexistent trace of an aura, since I never made contact with her person, it couldn't be recorded, and tracking is impossible."

"I see. That was my mistake. I thought that if I could sense the aura, I could track it," Rin sighed, then propped her elbow with one hand and tapped her chin with the other, tilting her head in thought.

Mugino looked back and forth between the two and asked, "So, are we stuck with the old methods?"

"No." Suddenly, Rin shook her head, her gaze falling on Lin Luo. "But you can still sense which direction the aura disappeared to, right?"

Lin Luo shook his head. "That's impossible. I could only vaguely detect a trace of her aura because she had fought here... Wait." Before he could finish, Lin Luo’s expression abruptly changed as a jolt of intense anxiety suddenly radiated from the distance.

"What is it?" Rin and Mugino instinctively asked.

Lin Luo remained silent, closing his eyes to carefully sense the throbbing sensation... It was somewhat unfamiliar, yet somehow familiar. Unfamiliar because the tremor arrived so suddenly, belonging to no one he had encountered; familiar because the same sensation had risen within his heart several times before.

The Heart of the World... Undeniably, it had to be that.

"I feel it—to the northwest," Lin Luo suddenly opened his eyes, pointing a finger in one direction.

"Huh? You feel something?" The two girls beside him looked utterly confused.

"It's the Host of the Heart of the World. The Book of Covenants and the Heart of the World naturally share a certain resonance. Just now, a very strong sensation came from somewhere to the northwest. I don't know for certain if it’s the person we are looking for, but she is undoubtedly a Host," Lin Luo stated grimly, his excitement barely concealed in his tone.

"I understand... Northwest. I get it," Rin nodded. As she spoke, she commanded all her familiars to search in the northwestern direction.

Then the three of them immediately set off toward that direction.

"Although the distance is significant, the tremor hasn't faded. Faster, faster, faster!"

...

Just as Lin Luo and the others set off on their search, in a secluded valley to the northwest, Evangeline stood solemnly upon a tall rock. Surrounding her, in the four cardinal directions, stood four massive dragons of various colors... Dragons.

A gray Earth Dragon, a red Fire Dragon, a white Silver Dragon, and a purple Thunder Dragon. Each colossal dragon exuded incomparable majesty that struck awe and fear into anyone who beheld them.

"Damn it, just a few days ago I chased off five Walkers, and now four Dragon Species have shown up..." Evangeline felt immense pressure. Although the number this time was one less than those she fought previously, their strength far surpassed those five Walkers; four great dragons were enough to threaten her.

If Lin Luo were present, he would recognize that these four dragons were all experts with one foot already stepping into the Realm of Rules... Initial Spirit Grade.

"It seems I can't treat this like a game anymore," the girl's lips curved into a cruel, exhilarated smile as she raised her slender hand. "Come, Ice Spirit, come, Wind Spirit... Ice Blast!"

Instantly, a colossal ice pillar exploded where the Red Dragon stood.

Simultaneously, a pillar of soaring flame erupted. Upon being attacked, the Red Dragon swiftly lifted off the ground, dodging Evangeline's assault. Then, the flames surged again, rushing toward the girl.

Evangeline sneered, merely extending one hand to block in front of her. A black vortex suddenly swirled in her palm, completely stopping the incoming flames and then... consuming them.

All the flames were devoured clean in an instant.

"Hmph, let me feel the true weight of this world," amidst the sneer, a black dragon shot out from the girl's palm. As a heaven-shaking roar echoed... one against four dragons, the most intense battle commenced.

...

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

The five Walkers, who had been utterly routed by Evangeline alone days earlier, had gathered once more. Naturally, they lacked their former imposing presence; every one of them appeared utterly disheveled.

"Damn it, how could that person be so strong? The five of us together couldn't beat her," Mo Xinming roared in extreme anger. In the previous battle, he had taken the worst beating, being slammed into the earth twice.

Li Dingzong nodded and said gravely, "With the skill she displayed, unless we can utilize our Inner Sight, we truly stand no chance against her... We must first adapt to this world."

"Damn it, why is there such a restriction? To use Inner Sight, we must first adapt to this world—it's utter nonsense," Mo Xinming complained, full of resentment.

Li Dingwan sighed and said, "There's nothing to be done about it. We aren't natives of this world; our power will naturally be repelled by it. If we cannot adapt, how can we recognize our own limits?"

"But that's what I don't understand! This is clearly a world of divine combat, so why are we being repelled by the world? And... why aren't the Hosts repelled?" Mo Xinming gritted his teeth, feeling deeply unfair.

"Seven days," Liu Qu suddenly interjected. "In just seven days, we will be fully acclimated to this world, and then we can recover our peak strength."

"But even then, can we truly defeat that Host?" Gao Ban Dahe asked doubtfully. Being a fellow mage, he knew that even at his peak strength, he was definitely no match for that girl.

"It will be difficult. If she wasn't exerting her full strength that time, then with our current power... after all, we only have one foot in the Rules, whereas she is a complete Rule-level powerhouse," Yun Feng shook his head, clearly holding little hope. "If all the Hosts are at her level, we don't stand a chance."

"That's unlikely. She is probably the strongest among the Hosts. Just as Walkers have strong and weak among them, it's natural for Hosts to have varying strengths," Li Dingzong reasoned.

"Indeed. We were just unlucky enough to encounter the strongest Host. If she had encountered the strongest Walker, hmph," Mo Xinming muttered resentfully, letting out a cold snort.

"The strongest Walker?" All eyes turned toward him.

Mo Xinming nodded. "I encountered one in a certain world. Back then, I was only LV1, but he was already LV3."

"What? LV3?" Everyone's expression changed drastically. Reaching LV3 in such a short time meant that person had already obtained a Heart of the World, while none of them had secured a single one yet.

Mo Xinming nodded. "Yes, LV3. That was about a year ago. At the time, just being stared at by him felt like being dragged into hell. Forget fighting, I couldn't even move." A trace of fear appeared in his eyes as he spoke.

Gao Gou Dahe marveled, "It's amazing you survived."

"Survived?" Mo Xinming gave a bitter laugh. "Don't joke. I was only lucky enough to escape death; otherwise, I'd be long gone."

"How so?"

Mo Xinming explained, "When he saw me, he seemed prepared to casually eliminate me, but just then, a Host with a Heart of the World appeared, and he went after the Host, not sparing me another glance."

The others understood immediately. Indeed, for them, the allure of the Heart of the World was far greater than that of the Walkers, as it was the only artifact for their rapid advancement.

Take them for instance: every one of them had one foot in the Rules. If they could obtain a Heart of the World, they could immediately grasp Rule Power. But without it, breaking through purely on their own strength would take at least three to five years—time enough for others to reach LV4 or LV5.

"Does that mean he might have already reached LV4 by now?" Li Dingzong's tone betrayed a hint of envy, jealousy, and bitterness.

"Do you know the identity of that Walker?" Liu Qu suddenly asked.

"I'm not entirely clear on the specifics," Mo Xinming shook his head, then stated grimly, "However, I overheard him referring to himself as... Xige."

P: I moved house slightly today and am utterly exhausted, so there will only be one chapter today, my apologies. I will make up for it tomorrow with three updates... For now, this month I'm sticking to a schedule of six chapters to better plan the future plot development.

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